April 12, 2014

The Choice

Issue No. 297 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights a hot-off-the-press book from ECFAPress—and it will rock your presuppositions. The co-authors are presenting a two-day session on the “Kingdom Outcomes” conference theme at CLA Dallas 2014, April 14-16. Plus, this reminder: check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff or board meeting.Don’t Read This Book!

You read that right.

Don’t read this book…if you’re good with what Gary Hoag, Scott Rodin and Wes Willmer label “The Common Path.” If “production-driven leadership, expansion-focused strategies, earthly oriented metrics, results-based management, and a utilitarian view of resources” is working out for you—then don’t read this book.

The authors quote Phil Vischer, founder and former CEO of VeggieTales: “We’re drinking a cocktail that’s a mix of the Protestant work ethic, the American dream, and the gospel. And we’ve intertwined them so completely that we can’t tell them apart anymore. "I realized I’m not supposed to be pursuing impact. I’m supposed to be pursuing God."And when I pursue God I will have exactly as much impact as He wants me to have.”

Don’t read this book…if you’re not ready to relinquish control.

“Let’s consider briefly the relationship between obedience and strategic planning and the temptation to take control. When we follow the common path, we take control, trust ourselves to provide, and enact strategies to try to make things happen. We come up with our own big, hairy, audacious targets and expect God to bless and fund them. However, just because a goal is so big it can only be accomplished if God shows up does not mean it aligns with His will.”

Don’t read this book…if your secret sauce for effective leadership includes a clever acronym (plus required reading and obligatory workshops, of course). If so, don’t even read this next paragraph where the authors describe what God-honoring ministry should look like:

“Jesus instructs us to follow Him. When we do, we find 10 marks, or characteristics, from Christ’s earthly ministry that are also evident in the early church….these 10 marks [include] practical formational practices to help us follow the kingdom path. “If this sounds oversimplified to you, candidly, we think we are the ones who have complicated things. Remember, Jesus recruited ordinary, mostly uneducated people and gave them basic instructions. He used words like ‘follow,’ ‘trust,’ and ‘obey.’ Are we simply meeting those clear requests?”

Don’t read this book…if you’re all about growth and (how’s this for a cliché) “getting to the next level”—or if you’ve launched your “Vision 2020 Campaign” (and who hasn’t?) and it’s rooted in cool marketing, but zero spiritual discernment. You probably shouldn’t heed this symptom of the common path:

“The underlying assumption is that in order to do our work better, we must do more of it. Growth is the unexamined presupposition, the driving force in our definition of success. As a result, strategic plans are written to articulate what more looks like in quantifiable terms.

“On this path leaders tend to overwork high-functioning staff and minimize the role others play because they think they don’t have what it takes to make things happen. While quality may be important, it often must give way to the increased pressure to post ever-growing results.”

“On this path success is defined in terms of our obedience to the instructions of Jesus Christ for which He promises eternal rewards. On the kingdom path, we as Christ-followers become less concerned about results that we cannot control because our primary concern is obedience. Our attention shifts from what we are doing for God to what God asks us to do and wants to accomplish in and through us. The former represents results we think we can generate taking the common path; the latter reflects the kingdom outcomes God produces through faithful followers.”

Don’t read this book…if you’d rather measure results by how many versus how well. The common path asks, “How do we build more?” while the kingdom path asks, “What are we doing with what we have?”

Gulp! Don’t read this either:

“This does not mean that production-driven leaders are not obedient, or that steward leaders will not report the results of measured growth and increased impact. The key difference is the force that guides them. We cannot be driven by church growth or ministry expansion and obedience simultaneously.One path will always take priority over the other!”

They add, “The key to grasping eternity-oriented metrics is realizing that the quantitative is subservient to the qualitative. Could this be why the modern church has so many professing Christians and so few disciples of Jesus Christ?”

Don’t read this book…if, as the authors suggest, you prefer “potholes, unnecessary detours, and rabbit trails of ministry.” Instead, we must “consider thoughtfully the instructions set forth for us in Scripture. This includes testing the prevailing practices of the world by God’s Word. However, our exploration must not stop there. This knowledge must drive us to make hard decisions, regardless of what others are doing.The common path is named just that because so many are on it. Following Christ requires us to go against the crowd. Making choices is important in the Christian faith.”

Don’t read this book…if you enjoy the rat race. But maybe…it’s time to stop the presses, push pause, and lead your team and your board, chapter by chapter, through this powerful poke in the spiritual ribs—until you can align your Big HOLY Audacious Goal, your strategic plan, and your results with God’s path (not yours).”

Read this book. It may be the most powerful, course-changing book you will read this year—maybe in the next five years.

Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) Interesting! This book is not only jammed with dozens and dozens of arresting insights, the authors gently and powerfully remind leaders that Jesus calls us to be “worry-free people.” (Gulp #2!) Why might The Choice between the common path and the kingdom path reduce a leader’s anxiety?

2) The authors say, “When we rely on ourselves for the small stuff we chart a course for trusting in ourselves with bigger issues too.” Be honest: how deep is our trust in the common path versus the kingdom path?

“Attempt to create the most fun workplace in the history of the world!”

But…before you think party hats, balloons and whoopee cushions, read more in Chapter 10 or visit Bakke’s website. It’s counter-intuitive. And like the Hoopla! Bucket core competency, read why we believe that the right mix of hoopla! honors God.

For more resources, including recommended books, visit the Hoopla! Bucket webpage.